Mathew Horne and Bruce MacKinnon graduated from Manchester University last June, each with a degree in performing Arts and two months later, they found themselves in the finals of both the Open Mic Award and the So You Think You're Funny Competition. Comedy Lounge met the two youngsters in a trendy Farringdon bar to talk about life, love and their unhealthy obsession with Noble and silver.

Mat and MacKinnon. So why not Mat and Bruce or Horne and MacKinnon? "Because", as Mat correctly points out, "it sounds a bit rubbish, doesn't it?" "It doesn't sound as good", adds Bruce. "We did a show at university and thought, 'hang on, we haven't got a name'. We didn't want to be pretentious and make something which isn't our name, which kind of sells yourself like something better than you are, so we just took our names." "There's a nice bit of alliteration and assonance in there," points out Mat. It kind of worked better than Matt and Bruce. And my surname's Horne." Mat and MacKinnon it is then.

Mat: "Paul and Barry are deeply, deeply suspicious men"
Bruce: "But they are misunderstood. If we could go there and get that status, that would be good."
Mat: "You know, children's' entertainers, a mullet and a 'tash, just spells trouble doesn't it."

Having met during the first few weeks of being at university, they got talking and realised they shared a very similar sense of humour but as Bruce explains, they didn't get around to wiring or performing any comedy until their third year. "We always talked about it since we met, but we were both studying drama so we did a lot of plays together." They took the plunge and got themselves a five minute slot in one of their local pubs in Manchester. "I think we were scared at first of doing something funny. Whereas when we were doing plays if people don't laugh, they don't laugh, but you're taking someone else's work. When you actually write something yourself and put it on it's a bit scary." However, they had a lot of support from their friends who laughed a lot, although as Bruce says, they realised their friends were somewhat biased. "We sort of thought that's not really a test of whether we're good or not, of whether we're funny, because they're going to laugh whatever, really, out of embarrassment or fear." So they went behind their friends' backs and did another slot without inviting anyone to see how it went. It went well. "And you were sick", Mat reminds Bruce, who picks up the story, " I was sick before we went on, it was the most scared I have ever been in my life. We only wrote five minutes - we only needed five minutes - but we didn't show it to anybody, so we didn't know it was funny or not." They opened with a speech from Hamlet, which was the one thing they did mention to their friends who, says Bruce "were all 'don't do that.' and that was the only thing we've kept."

"It (comedy) was always a passion of both of ours," says Mat, "but we never considered doing it. Certainly in this format. I certainly had a penchant - some would say an obsession - with Steve Coogan and I always appreciate what he does." Their love of Coogan's style is apparent in their performance. Bruce's family have always been obsessed with comedy, surrounding him with comedy videos and comedians on the telly, so it's no real surprise that he is following this current path. "I was always keener, as was Matt, to do the more comedy type plays, so we were always veering towards that. Once it works, it's the most incredible feeling."

As well as Steve Coogan, other comedy influences include Eric Morcambe ("in terms of delivery and timing and all the stuff which makes something not funny funny), Simon Pegg ("Big Train was the best British comedy written since Fawlty Towers, just amazing. And then Spaced was just brilliant."), and Mat in particular has always been quite keen on Laurel and Hardy. As for classic stand-up, Jack Dee, Billy Connolly and Sean Lock are amongst their favourites. "It requires something completely different, the ability to stand and make observations and talk to the audience in that conversational way is something that we can't do yet and something which we work at and try to do. But it comes with experience", explains Bruce.

Particular, and more sinister, influences are the Chuckle Brothers. At one point whilst at university Mat used to adorn Bruce's wardrobe door with junk including a fly poster of their hit show 'Trouble at Sea'. "Paul and Barry are..." says Mat, "deeply, deeply suspicious men." "But they are misunderstood", adds Bruce. "If we could go there and get that status, that would be good. But good on them, they're making money and playing massive theatres. 'Trouble at Sea' went national". Bruce warns us to be very cautious of them, to which Mat adds "but you know, children's' entertainers, a mullet and a 'tash, just spells trouble doesn't it. …and not trouble at sea." Boom Boom.

Bruce: "We're just writing what we find funny."
Mat: "Putting on the joggers, messing up the hair, and a bottle of water and then just work-shopping. Darling."
Bruce: "Please don't write that. What's a better word?"

To the date of the interview, Mat and Bruce have done 26 gigs and have used the Hamlet speech to open them all and luckily for them it works well. And they're going to need a good opener when they perform at London's Comedy Store in May. It's fair to say that Mat and Bruce are slightly nervous about that one. "The Comedy Store", says Mat with a sense of dread, "Oh God." "Yeah, we're going to die on our arses at the Store", adds Bruce. "I was given a whole list of numbers. I got three people telling me to piss off and three I left messages with. The next on the list was the Comedy Store, I thought, 'oh Christ'. I phoned up and they asked what we'd done and they said, 'yeah, alright, I'll give you five minutes'." So after going through their list of numbers, the only place to offer them a gig was the biggest comedy club in the country. "That's going to be hell." Having chosen to study in the North of England, Mat and Bruce started off in Manchester where the comedy circuit is much smaller than that of London. Originally from Nottingham and Surrey they are both now based in London where they are feeling like little fish in a big pond. "It's 20 times bigger", says Bruce, "and many more comedians trying to get gigs, it's difficult"

Mat and Bruce do not have a definite style of comedy, mainly because they have just started in comedy. They will develop their style as they build on their experience and even then, as Bruce says, they're not keen to stick to just one style. "We're just writing what we find funny and whether a style comes from that, I don't know. We are kind of doing that kind of comedy, which is not laugh a minute comedy." According to Mat, they'd rather have people watch them and be interested rather than expecting a gag after gag scenario. "We can't really put it in a nutshell, can we? It's still an experiment." Much of what Mat and Bruce do is obviously derived from their theatrical backgrounds, in terms of improvising and rehearsing. They tend to develop ideas as they perform rather than scripting. "Putting on the joggers, messing up the hair, and a bottle of water and then just work-shopping. Darling", says Mat. "Please don't write that", pleads Bruce, "what's a better word?"

Following their comedic Edinburgh debuts last year, Mat and Bruce are currently writing material for their 2001 Edinburgh show which they are hoping will come across as true entertainment rather than Barrymore style nonsense. They are going up to the festival with the backing of Graham Stewart, the executive producer at 'So...' Productions (Graham Norton's production company). He was one of the judges at the So You Think You're Funny Final in which Mat and Bruce were placed runners-up. "Before last year, that was always something we wanted to work towards", says Mat. "I don't suppose we really sort of realised that it would be the following year." "Five minutes is never really enough", adds Bruce, "and I think this will certainly will tell us whether we can do it or not. I think we can, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it, but the hour will be telling." Of course, there is a huge difference between the hour set and the twenty minutes they have been used to but it's a challenge the pair are going to relish.

Currently performing their first hour long show at the Canal Café Theatre in London, the pair are developing ideas and sketches, gaining them comparisons to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. They have a very commanding stage presence and the close bond they display off stage, in terms of finishing each others' sentences and being able to anticipate what the other one's about to say, also comes across on stage. This chemistry between them adds to the joy of watching them perform. Some of the ideas that they cover in their show are obvious but their enthusiasm and resourcefulness lends another dimension. There is more than a glimmer of genius in their act and they are genuinely funny.

Having already been to Edinburgh with theatre companies for the three years while they were at university, they already know what to expect in terms of fickleness, small audiences and poor reviews which should prove invaluable in keeping their heads clear.

Things have been moving along quite quickly for Mat and Bruce, they can hardly believe it. They are expecting this summer to make or break them in terms of comedy as Mat explains, "when you've had aspirations to act and perform for many years, then suddenly you're doing something which is performance but is completely away from what you thought you'd do, and it's gone in the year relatively well, it's very difficult to assess where things will go." In an ideal world they would love to continue with both straight acting as well as comedy. "We've got the cutlery, let's lay the table", says Bruce. "My cricket coach used to say that, the dickhead."

See the live page for Mat and Bruce's live dates.

Keep an eye on www.matandmackinnon.co.uk for the launch of their site.